SEMO TO GIVE SHOW ME AWARD

As the fifth president of Southeast Missouri State University, Willard Duncan Vandiver angered regents when he ran for Congress.

A century later, today's Board of Regents plans to honor the man who coined the state's "show me" nickname by creating the Vandiver Show Me State Award.

The regents are expected to establish the award when they meet at 3:15 p.m. today in Robert A. Dempster Hall's Glenn Auditorium.

Board members also will consider approving a new lease with the Bootheel Youth Museum in Malden. The agreement would provide for 20, one-year renewable leases with the university responsible for maintaining the exterior of the building.

The museum is housed in the Bootheel Education Center.

Several former regents will attend today's meeting as part of the first gathering of the Regent Emeriti Society.

The Vandiver Show Me State Award would be conferred by the regents and recognize individuals whose achievements have contributed to the school, the region or the state.

The award would be on a level similar to the university's new honorary degrees, but less restrictive.

Southeast's president, Dr. Dale Nitzschke, came up with idea of creating the special award. Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president, suggested naming the award after Vandiver.

Nitzschke said the award is patterned after New Hampshire's Granite State Award.

"It provides an opportunity to pull people more closely into the university," he said.

Don Dickerson, president of the Board of Regents, said the award probably would be given annually.

"I think it calls attention to our town, our school, our state," he said.

In the early 1890s, Vandiver taught science at Southeast, then known as the Normal School. He served as the school's president from 1893 to 1897.

Vandiver, who looked like Mark Twain, served during a difficult time for the school: A depression gripped the nation and the school struggled to maintain enrollment.

The regents instructed Vandiver to concentrate on recruiting students. He traveled to various teacher institutes to promote the school.

By late fall 1895, Vandiver decided to run for Congress from what was then the 14th District.

His political activities caused some conflicts with the regents. Two members of the board objected to Vandiver continuing to serve as president while running for Congress.

Regents Edward Rozier and John Raney convinced the board to pass a resolution that stated Vandiver's absence from the school was "a gross neglect and violation of his duties" as the school's president.

Despite regents' opposition, Vandiver carried on with his political campaign. He ran as a Democrat and was elected to Congress in 1896.

On March 1, 1897, prior to leaving for Washington to take office, Vandiver resigned as president of the Normal School.

Vandiver made his "show me" remark at a naval banquet in Philadelphia in 1899, when he was a member of the House committee on naval affairs.

He became irritated by a statement made by the governor of Iowa. Vandiver declared, "I come from a state that raises corn, cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces me nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me."

In 1901, he pushed for construction of a Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau. Vandiver's dream of a Cape Girardeau bridge was realized in 1928, four years before his death.

Vandiver played a key role in the passage of legislation in 1902, which provided for construction of the Panama Canal.

It contained an amendment written by Vandiver that divided construction of the canal into stages and allowed for more competition among bidders.